root only sound?

["Gordon R. Keehn" <gordonkeehn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

   I've been trying to get Fedora to recognize my Crystal-based sound 
"card" since Fedora Core 1.  I just upgraded to Core 5, and thought I 
had it.  When I signed on to my root account to perform initial setup, I 
tried the Soundcard Recognition applet one more time, and to my complete 
joy, it finally worked.  "Aha!", says I, "They finally got it right." 
Then I rebooted and signed on to my user account, and no sound.  I 
started the Soundcard Recognition applet again, entered my root password 
when prompted, and watched as it found no evidence that I had any sound 
support installed.
   Am I going to have to run as root to listen to my favorite audio 
stream?  Why is it so hard for Fedora to recognize a chipset that worked 
perfectly up through Redhat 9?  I know it's a minor issue, and the guys 
behind the distribution do a monumental job as it is, but it's a bit 
discouraging.
   Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me get sound working 
permanently.  (Or at least, until the next upgrade when I'm sure the 
whole thing will start over again.)
   Cheers,
Gordon Keehn